By Julia Drydyk
This op-ed was published in the Toronto Star on December 22, 2024
Times are tough. Canadians are struggling to make ends meet. But let’s be clear: migrant workers aren’t to blame.
Earlier this summer, the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery called out Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), which restricts the freedoms and rights of our migrant worker population, as a “breeding ground for contemporary forms of modern slavery.” This damning indictment should have been a wake-up call — a catalyst for profound and meaningful change.
Instead the federal government succumbed to scapegoating.
Once the spotlight was shone on this inherently exploitative program, Canadians were forced to confront an uncomfortable truth: our economy is deeply reliant on low-wage migrant labour. For decades, some of the country’s largest industries — including agriculture, manufacturing and retail — have padded their profit margins by underpaying migrant workers and pocketing the difference.
Canada’s TFWP enables corporations to exploit migrant workers through a legal framework that normalizes their unequal treatment. Rather than addressing these systemic flaws, the federal government has shifted blame onto migrant workers. Instead of proposing solutions to overhaul the system, the federal government has chosen to slash the number of migrant workers entering the country.
Scapegoating migrant workers is not only unjust but a dangerous distraction, allowing abusive practices to persist unchecked while systemic failures continue to go unaddressed.
The TFWP has long been criticized for its flawed design. At the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking, we have heard countless stories first-hand from survivors mistreated by this system.
Closed work permits are a prime example of how the program traps workers in cycles of abuse.
Thousands of migrants come to Canada on visas that effectively tether them to a single employer. When that employer becomes abusive — endangering their health, stealing wages or forcing them into substandard housing — workers face an impossible choice. They can either endure the abuse or risk deportation by reporting it.
The TFWP reduces human beings to disposable commodities: valued during labour shortages and discarded when political winds shift.
This system also stands in direct contradiction to Canadian values. In 2023, we commissioned an Angus Reid poll that found that 93 per cent of Canadians support fair treatment for migrant workers, and 85 per cent still believe Canada is a land of opportunity for newcomers. Yet government policies have ignored this consensus.
The pattern is disturbingly familiar. Throughout history, and around the world, migrants have been scapegoated during tense economic times to placate public frustrations.
Immediately after completing the railway that united Canada, Chinese workers — who endured dangerous, often deadly conditions — saw what little welcome they had received swiftly withdrawn. All immigrants of Chinese origin became targets of discriminatory policies like the Chinese Head Tax and the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Present-day Canada is not immune to such xenophobia. Just days ago in Hamilton, Ont., masked men stood outside a major shopping mall holding a sign that read: “Mass deportations now.” This chilling display is a stark reminder that rhetoric blaming migrant workers for Canada’s economic hardships emboldens hate and fuels dangerous divisions in our communities.
It’s a warning of how quickly public frustration, if misdirected, can turn into open hostility against those with little political power.
Canadians are frustrated: wages haven’t kept up with inflation, housing is unaffordable and an entire generation feels that home ownership is nothing but a pipe dream. But when the government suggests these problems will improve by simply limiting migration, all some will hear is: “Blame the immigrants.”
The federal government’s sole focus on cutting migrant numbers is a missed opportunity for meaningful reform.
We need solutions that address the root causes of exploitation: open work permits that grant workers mobility and agency, stricter enforcement of labour standards, equal rights for all workers in Canada, and pathways to permanent residency for those who sustain entire industries with their labour.
Some of the most shameful chapters in Canadian history trace back to moments when we chose nativism over decency and obfuscation over accountability.
It’s time for Canada to confront the uncomfortable truths about its migrant worker policies. Dismantle exploitative structures and build a system rooted in fairness and rights for all workers.
Julia Drydyk is the executive director of the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking.